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7 For Seven

7 For Seven is the exercise of recounting seven delights from the week passed. This is inspired by Jessica Slavin at Like an Apple, as many things are.

My family adopted a beautiful, 8 month old Miniature Australian Shepherd and named him Louis. I’ve never had a puppy before and he’s really loving and cuddly. He gives me hugs and the other night when I was crying, he totally cuddled up and comforted me. We are bonding fast. He’s lucky he’s so sweet because he likes to piss in the house and jumps on everyone like a mofo. But these are delights, not complaints. So forget the urine and think fuzzy cuddles!

Last weekend, my blog post My Mom Died Too was featured on Mamapedia. My post reached a large audience and I got over forty comments. In fact, the comments section turned into a forum for a lot of daughters to share their own stories of loss and to tell me and everyone else that they still miss their mom, too. It was very gratifying because that’s what my post was about: connecting with other daughters who’ve lost their mothers and the small relief that commiseration provides. That connection is one of the few comforts in this sometimes dark, now-motherless life I’m living. Making a connection on such a large scale with the help of Mamapedia (their site has over 130,000 Facebook likes!) was damn near orgasmic.

I had dinner with a friend on Wednesday night. I’m not going to lie, I love to escape my family for a few hours at least once a week. Plus, conversation with my friend is often therapeutic. Our friendship became tighter last winter when both of our mothers died within a few months of each other. Talking with her makes me feel less crazy for all the weird emotions I’m having. I am grateful to have supportive friends and family around to love and who love me.

I’ve mastered my Mother in Law’s ooey-gooey, oh-so-yummy Baked Beans Recipe. At Layla’s birthday party, MIL herself commented that, “You make them just as good as me now!” And she wasn’t exaggerating. You’d vomit if you knew how much brown sugar I use to get them right, but they’re sure tasty! Mmm.

We spent our Sunday at the Henry Doorly Zoo. Any zoo kicks ass, but especially our city’s zoo! There are peacocks roaming all over, a Budgie house where you can hand feed the birds, a Jungle, a Desert, and a mind-blowing Aquarium. The list goes on. I made a scavenger hunt for Layla and Piper to make it extra fun. The hunt included carousel rides and a trip on the Skyfari. It was a special way to spend some family time this three day weekend.

My new dog found a hole in our fence on Thursday and he made it almost all the way to Warren Buffett’s house (that’s really only a few blocks away, I just like to name drop) before two utility workers stopped him. I was so grateful to the men who caught him. The incident could have ended so much worse.

Today’s a holiday, Labor Day. No work for Chris and we are picnicking at a lake with my in-laws. I haven’t seen many of them for several months and I am so excited!

Well, the 7 for Seven was a lovely way to start the week. Happy Monday, everyone. XO, Mary